To Mystery Land.

Oh, dear, how will it end?
Peggy and Susie how naughty you are.
You little know where you are,
Going so far, and so high,
Nearly up to the sky.
Perhaps it's a Giant who lives there,
And perhaps it's a lovely Princess.
But you very well know
You've no business to go;
You'll get yourselves into a mess.

Oh, dear, I'm sure it is true;
Whatever on earth can it matter to you?
For you know it--oh, fie--
That it's naughty to pry
Into other's affairs--
Into other folks houses to go,
Where you know
You're not asked.
So you'd better come back
While there's time, it is plain.
Go home--and be never
So naughty again.

Kate Greenaway

Kate Greenaway was a renowned English Victorian artist and writer known for her children's book illustrations. Her work, characterized by quaint, nostalgic depictions of children and rural life, achieved remarkable popularity in the late 19th century. Greenaway's unique style, often inspired by Regency-era fashion, has had a lasting influence on children's literature and illustration.

Kate Greenaway

On The Wall Top.

Kate Greenaway, Simple Poetry

From Wonder World.

Kate Greenaway, Simple Poetry

Tip-A-Toe.

Kate Greenaway, Simple Poetry

Ball.

Kate Greenaway, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

When We Went Out With Grandmamma.

When we went out with Grandmamma--
Mamma said for a treat--
Oh, dear, how stiff we had to walk
As we went down the street.

One on each side we had to go,
And never laugh or loll;
I carried Prim, her Spaniard dog,
And Tom--her parasol.


If I looked right--if Tom looked left--
"Tom--Susan--I'm ashamed;
And little Prim, I'm sure, is shocked,
To hear such naughties named."

She said we had no manners,
If we ever talked or sung;
"You should have seen," said Grandmamma,
"Me walk, when I was young."

She told us--oh, so often--
How little girls and boys,
In the good days when she was young,
Never made any noise.

She said they never wished then
To play--oh, indeed!
They learnt t...

Kate Greenaway

Miss Edith Makes Another Friend

Oh, youre the girl lives on the corner? Come in if you want to come quick!
Theres no one but me in the house, and the cook but shes only a stick.
Dont try the front way, but come over the fence through the window thats how.
Dont mind the big dog he wont bite you just see him obey me! there, now!

Whats your name? Mary Ellen? How funny! Mines Edith its nicer, you see;
But yours does for you, for youre plainer, though maybe youre gooder than me;
For Jack says Im sometimes a devil, but Jack, of all folks, neednt talk,
For I dont call the seamstress an angel till Ma says the poor thing must walk.

Come in! Its quite dark in the parlor, for sister will keep the blinds down,
For you know her complexion is sallow like yours, but she isnt as brown;
Though Jack says tha...

Bret Harte

The Little Jumping Girls.

Jump jump jump
Jump away
From this town into
The next, to-day.

Jump jump jump
Jump over the moon;
Jump all the morning,
And all the noon.

Jump jump jump
Jump all night;
Won't our mothers
Be in a fright?

Jump jump jump
Over the sea;
What wonderful wonders
We shall see.

Jump jump jump
And leave behind
Everything evil
That we may find.

Jump jump jump
Jump far away;
And all come home
Some other day.

Kate Greenaway

The Magpie And Her Brood.

        From the Tales of Bonaventura des Periers, Servant to Marguerite of Valois, Queen of Navarre. By HORACE LORD ORFORD.


        How anxious is the pensive parents' thought,
        How blest the lot of fondlings, early taught;
        Joy strings her hours on pleasure's golden twine,
        And fancy forms it to an endless line.
        But ah! the charm must cease, or soon or late,
        When chicks and misses rise to woman's state;
        The little tyrant grows in turn a slave,
        And feels the soft anxiety she gave.
        This truth, my pretty friend, an ancient sage,
        Who wrote in tale and legend many a page,
        Couch'd in that age's unaffected guise,
        When fables were the wisdom of the wise.
        To careless note...

John Gay

A Mistake.

"MY dears, whatever are you at?
    You ought to be at home;
I told you not to wet your feet -
    I told you not to roam.

"Oh, dear! I'm sure you will be drowned!
    I never saw such tricks
Come home at once, and go to bed,
    You naughty naughty chicks."

Now most of them were five days old,
    But one, whose age was six -
"Please, ma'am," said he, "I think we're ducks;
    I don't believe we're chicks!"

Lizzie Lawson

The Island Of Endless Play

Said Willie to Tom, 'Let us hie away
To the wonderful Island of Endless Play.

It lies off the border of "No School Land,"
And abounds with pleasure, I understand.

There boys go swimming whenever they please
In a lovely river right under the trees.

And marbles are free, so you need not buy;
And kites of all sizes are ready to fly.

We sail down the Isthmus of Idle Delight -
We sail and we sail for a day and a night.

And then, if favoured by billows and breeze,
We land in the Harbour of Do-as-You-Please.

And there lies the Island of Endless Play,
With no one to say to us, Must, or Nay.

Books are not known in that land so fair,
Teachers are stoned if they set foot there.

Hurrah for the Island, so glad and free,
...

Ella Wheeler Wilcox